{"id":10781,"date":"2026-02-10T18:39:06","date_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=10781"},"modified":"2026-02-10T18:39:06","modified_gmt":"2026-02-11T00:39:06","slug":"what-tiktok-gets-right-about-attention-and-what-email-overlooks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/attentionmedia.io\/?p=10781","title":{"rendered":"What TikTok gets right about attention and what email overlooks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Email marketing has been declared dead every time a new digital technology appears in all its shiny newness. Yet, it remains one of the most effective, profitable and controllable digital channels available to marketers. But so much of the promotional email that I see in my inboxes feels a little tired.<\/p>\n

Many messages look as if they were designed for the inboxes and email users of 2001. Yes, that\u2019s 25 years ago, nearly as long as email\u2019s commercial lifespan.<\/p>\n

On the surface, at least, the typical email message looks a little more modern today. We don\u2019t see many three-column email designs anymore. About 4 out of 5 emails are optimized for mobile<\/a>, up from 50% or less 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

The bigger problem with email design<\/h2>\n

It goes deeper than button or font size, into an area we haven\u2019t talked about enough until now. Today\u2019s email messages are disconnected from how people behave online. They haven\u2019t changed much since the heady days of 2001, when promotional email crossed the line from novelty to business necessity.<\/p>\n

Back then, inboxes were quieter, even as the spam flood began to rise. People\u2019s attention spans were longer, and the way they read messages was mostly linear. The typical reader would open an email, start at the top and scroll through the message. Subject lines mattered, but they weren\u2019t fighting for notice in a battlefield of notifications, apps and infinite scroll.<\/p>\n

Fast-forward to 2026. The people reading our emails have been retrained by attention competitors like TikTok, Instagram Stories and Facebook Reels, YouTube Shorts and a constant stream of digital interruptions.<\/p>\n

The environment has changed, and human behavior has evolved with it. But email marketing has remained largely unchanged. One reason for this stalemate may be the long-running competition between email and social media for attention and budget. Email still holds the edge for trust and conversions, but marketers have always known email can learn from social media as well.<\/p>\n

Dig deeper: How persuasive email design can influence the ecommerce customer journey<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

What TikTok reveals about how attention actually works<\/h2>\n

Now is the time to look more closely at the changes channels like TikTok have driven and how email could benefit from acknowledging them. I\u2019ve been researching and experimenting with TikTok for work lately, and here are my observations.<\/p>\n

A behavioral view of TikTok<\/h3>\n

TikTok didn\u2019t succeed because of trends, dances or viral sounds. It succeeded because it forces creators to confront reality.<\/p>\n

On TikTok, attention is never assumed. Attention is borrowed, negotiated and easily revoked. Creators have seconds \u2014 sometimes less \u2014 to justify why someone should keep watching. They know that if they don\u2019t capture that attention immediately, the thumb moves on without hesitation or remorse.<\/p>\n

This has turned TikTok into the largest real-time experiment in human attention we\u2019ve ever had. Creators learn what sparks curiosity, what creates momentum and what causes instant disengagement.<\/p>\n

Email marketers, by contrast, optimize for the inbox instead of the human. Open rates, subject line length and best practice formulas dominate the discussion. We don\u2019t usually explore the deeper question \u2014 how people actually decide what to engage with.<\/p>\n

The three-hook model that stops the scroll<\/h3>\n

Successful TikTok content rarely relies on a single hook. Creators stack multiple hooks to earn attention and keep it. Most TikToks have three hooks:<\/p>\n